Poll

Business

After more than a year of extensive redevelopment, Southwest Plaza is sporting a bright new appearance that includes new stores and a café with a fireplace and skylight.

Finishing touches are being added to the 1.3 million-square-foot shopping center, which has been redesigned to create a community atmosphere, said Greg Sims, senior general manager for Southwest Plaza.

“The prime objective was to open it up, make it much more inviting,” Sims said.

After seven years at the corner of Main and Nevada streets, Lola’s Sugar Rush is set to close for good Dec. 30. And owner Lola Salazar wants the store’s final month to be one the community remembers.

Salazar is closing the candy store to focus on running her and her husband’s charitable organization, the Salazar Foundation, and to spend time with her two grandchildren. As a way to thank the community, during December Lola’s Sugar Rush will donate 10 percent of its sales on Sundays to the nonprofit organizations supported by the foundation.

The county’s businesses will have an opportunity to connect with one another during the Jeffco Business Resource Center’s Business Resource Expo next week.

The free event, at the Jeffco Fairgrounds from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Sept. 23, will let a variety of companies make connections that could prove vital. The event also provides information on low-cost or free services available at the Business Resource Center, said Amira Watters, the center’s executive director.

The Brews & Views festival on Saturday will bring more than 30 breweries to Hudson Gardens to show off their suds. While some operations will travel hundreds of miles to the event, Littleton’s Locavore Beer Works will be right at home.

The brewery, owned by friends Jason Reinhardt and Andy Nelson, opened in November and has been packing in customers at 5950 S. Platte Canyon Road. Nelson and Reinhardt met in a home-brewing club five years ago, and what started with nights in their garages dreaming up recipes has turned into a new career.

Two years after placing a moratorium on all businesses related to retail marijuana, Jeffco’s county commissioners are set to allow testing of the drug.

But a ban will remain in place on grow operations and retail sales outlets of pot in areas of the county outside municipalities.

The commissioners gave initial approval July 21 to an ordinance that would allow marijuana plants and marijuana-infused products to be tested in laboratory settings. The board is set to officially vote on the measure during a yet-unscheduled public hearing.

For decades, the Columbine Lounge has been an old standby in South Jeffco. But in June it became the site of a new dream.

The 40-year-old establishment at 7660 S. Pierce St. was bought by Cheryl Gonska on June 1. The former lunch lady at Jeffco Schools fulfilled a 17-year-old dream to own her own bar and traded in a younger clientele for one of legal drinking age.

Fun City, the family entertainment center in South Jeffco, closed for good on May 31 after 30 years in business.

Yet the doors were opened one last time on Saturday to auction everything from bar stools and glasses to bowling balls and arcade games. The highlight for many in attendance, the arcade games spanned Fun City’s three-decade run.

The Littleton City Council has decided not to expand the number of days each month that downtown merchants can have sidewalk displays.

The council voted 4-2 on June 2 to retain the current policy, which limits displays to three days each month and requires a city permit. Councilman Bruce Beckman was absent at the meeting.

The current ordinance, which was approved by the council in May 2014, has met opposition from downtown merchants. The latest proposed changes would have allowed sidewalk displays 365 days a year while still requiring a permit.

A developer has proposed a commercial center with a 7-Eleven on the northeast corner of South Wadsworth Boulevard and West Coal Mine Avenue, on land offered for sale by the Foothills Park and Rec District.

Cornerstone Capital Investment’s plans for the 4.65-acre property are working their way through Jefferson County’s site development process.